“Remember This Day” by Linda Drattell

Remember This Day

Linda Drattell
Finishing Line Press (2023)
ISBN: 979-8888383254
Reviewed by Susan Violante for Reader Views (01/2024)

“Remember This Day” by Linda Drattell is a poetry collection about Nature and our relationship with her not in the macro general way but in a personal way. Readers will feel the hunt of a wolf; its hunger, exhilaration; and its resignation and resilience when the hunt fails through Hunt.

Readers will also feel the power of nature, both in her strength and her beauty through the relationship of other creatures through Tempest. But the audience will mostly experience Nature as the author helps us remember how wonderful it feels to be outside enjoying the simple pleasure of walking in the park, through Pace and Stride.

Where I related most in this eclectic poetry bazaar of nature is remembering our human nature as we remember the deep corners of our souls through poems like When Your Heart No Longer Beats, Old Man, and my favorite short one The Who That You Are, which I sample below:

The Who That You Are
You know who you are
When you surrender pretense
When you stop self-assessing
Stuck on past tense
When you realize your life
Isn’t all that intense
As you think it must be.

You relinquish all defense
Because none is needed
Agency’s your voucher
Best simply to heed it.
When you shed the frayed mask
Then you’ll have succeeded
In setting yourself free.

Linda Drattell is an awesome poet. She presents readers with an amazing collection of both well-written and diverse forms of poetry. Ms. Drattell can go very deep or as light as a feather, but her poems are always thought-provoking and inspiring. I found myself reflecting on my own experience of life and my own relationship with nature. I found her poetry soothing and healing and am grateful to have read it. Her talent and skill deserve recognition. Definitely, an author to follow.

Overall, “Remember This Day” by Linda Drattell is, in my opinion, a five-star read for poetry lovers and anyone who loves to explore their own relationship with nature in the moments of simple pleasures and deep reflection that nature provides to us. A must-read to cherish!